This 1999 recording of Marcello Viotti conducting La Favorite is the most recent of the reissued sets from Sony. This four act grand opera by Donizetti is based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Bacular d’Arnaud. The work which premiered in 1840 at the Academie Royale de Musique in Paris has a French libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaez. Ramon Vargas is a featured soloist, who has long been praised for his fluent, stylish arias. He meets the high range of these pieces with virtuosity. “(Marcello Viotti) gets the long lines of Donizetti’s melodies just right and holds the big ensembles together well. His Munich forces play and sing handsomely…” (ClassicsToday.com)